Dr Lindsey Arielle Davidson is Lecturer in Jewish Studies in the Department of Religion and Theology at Bristol (since 2018). Her research is in Greco-Roman Judaism, Biblical Hebrew language, scribal culture, and textual criticism of the Hebrew Bible, Septuagint, and related Jewish texts. She teaches Jewish studies and Biblical Hebrew.

Office: Room 1.05, 3 Woodland Road, Department of Religion and Theology, Bristol BS8 1TB

Tel: +44 (0)117 455 2046

Note recent surname change to Davidson: formerly Lindsey A. Askin.

Research areas

• Hebrew language and philology (Classical Biblical Hebrew and Late Biblical Hebrew)
• Greco-Roman Judaism (331 BCE to 200 CE)
• Scribal culture in Jewish antiquity
• Textual history (textual criticism) of the Hebrew Bible, Septuagint (LXX), and related Jewish texts
• Ben Sira
• Dead Sea Scrolls
• Aramaic, Syriac

Dr Davidson's research profile revolves around scribal culture and language in Jewish antiquity, most of all in the Greco-Roman period stretching 331 BCE to 200 CE in West Asia and Mediterranean. This central focus on Jewish scribes and language involves areas of textual history, history, orality, literacy and education, wisdom, quotation, epigraphy, papyrology, translation, multilingualism, and language change. She is also interested in historical and intellectual questions that were important enough for ancient Jews to write about, especially: theology, politics, economics, health, war, and ethics.

Current research projects are under "Projects." Publications are under "Research Outputs."

She also maintains a "useful links" website called "The Biblical Toolkit" which bookmarks databases and resources for biblical and early Jewish and Christian studies, for remote work, teaching, and research: https://biblicaltoolkit.wordpress.com/.

Teaching and Supervising

Undergraduate: Introductory Biblical Hebrew language, Greco-Roman Judaism, and Dead Sea Scrolls. She also teaches general Jewish studies at the introductory level, including Jewish responses to the Shoah/Holocaust, antisemitism studies, and the Arab-Israel conflict. She contributes to much of the teaching in core mandatory units across the Religion and Theology programme.

Postgraduate: Normally open to receiving new queries for MPhil and PhD students within her areas of research interest in ancient Judaism, but *please note* she will be going on maternity leave from June 2024 to May 2025 and may not be able to respond to new queries quickly or accept new PGR students in this time.

Highlighted roles (more under Activities)

Secretary of the British and Irish Association for Jewish Studies (2023 - present), previously Treasurer (2020-23)

Co-Director of Second Temple Early Career Academy (2022 - present), previously co-steer (2020-22)

Member of Turing AI for Arts Steering Group and affiliate of Turing Humanities and Data Science Special Interest Group (The Alan Turing Institute, London)

Editorial board member, Journal of Theological Studies

Background

Past academic roles prior to Bristol:

• Honorary research associate, University of Exeter (2017-18)
• Editorial assistant, Journal of Theological Studies (2016-18)
• Visiting postdoctoral Polonsky fellow, Oxford Centre for Hebrew & Jewish Studies, University of Oxford (spring 2016)
• Supervisor (tutorial teaching), Hebrew and Old Testament papers, University of Cambridge (2015-17)

Education:

• PhD in Divinity, University of Cambridge (Queens' College, 2012-16), supervisor: Professor James K. Aitken (z"l)
• MA in Biblical Studies, Durham University (Hild-Bede, 2011-12), supervisor: Professor Robert (C.T.R.) Hayward
• PG Cert in Theory of Education, Durham University (Hild-Bede, 2010-11), Religious Education at secondary level
• MA Honours (undergraduate) in Divinity, University of Edinburgh (2006-10)
• Originally from Connecticut and Massachusetts, USA